Senator Barack Obama, who – as expected – stormed to victory in the Mississippi primary last night, remains ahead of fellow Senator Hillary Clinton not only in the delegate count in the race to win the U.S Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, but also in polls pitting the two against the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain.

Obama won 61% of the vote in Mississipi and now has 1600 delegates to Clinton’s 1484. So far, he has won more of the popular vote to date than his rival – 13,855,890 votes to Clinton’s 13,754,871. This has led Obama to rubbish suggestions coming from the Clinton camp that he could run as Clinton’s Vice Presidential running mate, below.

Obama also continues to perform more favourably against Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, than Clinton. In the latest RealClearPolitics poll of polls, Obama leads McCain by 5.2 points whilst Clinton only leads McCain by 1.7 points. Obama has consistently outpolled McCain in recent months.

The next key test for both candidates will be in Pennsylvania on 22 April where 188 delegates are up for grabs.